Paxman accused of Oxbridge favouritism on University Challenge

Fans of the show have complained that Paxman, who himself went to St Catherine's College at Cambridge, has been giving the Oxbridge teams an easy ride and openly giving them more encouragement that their less lofty rivals.

This week's show sparked controversy after the Newsnight presenter was accused off letting off Oxford's Somerville College for a seemingly incorrect answer.

But when University of Durham also got an answer slightly wrong there was no such leeway.

The Somerville College team were asked: "By what acronym is the digital broadcasting system in Britain known?" They answered DABS when the answer was DAB, but were still given the answer.

But when the University of Durham team was asked to name the woman with whom Romeo is infatuated before he meets Juliet - they answered Rosalind when the answer was Rosaline - but unlike their rivals they were not let off.

Viewers contacting the BBC's on-line message boards have also complained that Paxman shows much more sympathy towards Oxford and Cambridge teams when they lose than he does towards the others.

One said: "JPs no sooner 'been unable to accept' Rosalind for Rosaline from the oiks than he somehow manages to accept DABS from the anointed ones though the answer is actually DAB.

"I don't for a moment suspect any conscious bias and I know many of these calls are inescapably subjective. It's just that last night for the first time I felt I could see what the whingers were whinging about."

Another viewer wrote: "My mum and I have been watching UC for some time now and we are definitely of the opinion that JP is pro-Oxbridge.

"When [an] Oxbridge college loses he goes over the top to say 'hard luck, you almost got going, didn't quite make it' and is nice as pie to them, but if other universities or colleges lose, he doesn't show as much sympathy."

The viewer claimed he was "less encouraging" to non-Oxbridge teams. They added: "His attitude towards Oxbridge/non-Oxbridge institutions isn't overt, but implicit in his body language and the way he addresses the students, in our opinion."

Another viewer claimed in the last series he had "let off" an Oxbridge team for a "totally wrong answer" - claiming it had been "near enough".

Another claimed had "damned with faint praise" their old university when it had beaten an Oxbridge team.

But executive producer of the show Peter Gwyn claimed that on Monday night's show the programme had ruled that the Durham's answer was incorrect because Rosalind was a character from As You Like it, which made the answer factually incorrect as Rosline was from Romeo and Juliet.

He said Paxman had allowed DABS - as it was a plural of DAB of which "there has been more than one version".

Mr Gwyn said: "Oxford and Cambridge has an elite reputation and I think our programme has always been viewed incorrectly as pursuing that. If people want to see it then they will see it.

"All points of adjudication on University Challenge are decided by me as the executive producer and I can assure everyone that I and the entire production team are as scrupulous as we can be in ensuring their is no favouritism towards any one institution.

"There is nobody on the production team that is an Oxbridge graduate."

He said he would have stopped the filming if there was any decision by Paxman he disagreed with.

"If there was anything I was unsure about I would stop the recording and re-check" he said.